


Don't Try to Help Me Now

by KittiePhanatic



Series: Inspired Works and Prompt Fills [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Because That’s How I Write Him, Gen, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Sibling Luther Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Torture, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Mild Gore, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Soft Diego Hargreeves, Yes Luther Does Redeem Himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:02:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21777241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittiePhanatic/pseuds/KittiePhanatic
Summary: After the family pissed Klaus off by assuming that he was back on drugs, Diego must locate his brother before the Commission does.  But first, Diego has some unanswered questions for Luther.Set two weeks after Five had time-traveled himself and the siblings back to the present, and a sequel to the referenced inspired work.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Inspired Works and Prompt Fills [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840210
Comments: 12
Kudos: 373





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littleminilynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleminilynn/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Don't Ruin This For Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20508791) by [littleminilynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleminilynn/pseuds/littleminilynn). 



> Greetings! I had originally planned this as a one-shot before realizing there is a little too much potential storyline for a single-chapter work. Not sure where I will go with this.
> 
> I have several WIPs here that have sat idle while I deal with some significant personal problems. I am finally able to refocus some on my fanfic (and aspiring novel) writing, so hopefully my current incomplete fics here will be concurrently updated as well.

Diego Hargreeves and his four other (living) siblings stared in saddened shock as their emotionally-distraught brother Klaus stormed barefoot out the door.

The Hargreeves siblings had just received an earful of more information than they had ever wanted to know about the ghosts Klaus encountered throughout his life --- at least when he was sober, which he had been for over two weeks. Of course, the siblings had assumed that Klaus was high during their family meeting as he was painfully distracted. When they confronted him, that was when Klaus blurted out the gruesome details.

_"She has no legs. She's been crawling around for a while now, actually. She's been bleeding everywhere too."_

_"His whole left side is gone. He doesn't have an arm or a leg … I can see his flesh and his muscle. I can even see his bones."_

_"There's a man. He's hanging from the ceiling."_

That was why Klaus had started drugs, he had explained afterward. It was the only means by which Klaus could make the ghosts go away.

Diego understood now. And he knew that Luther, Allison, Five and Vanya did, too. And here, Klaus had been trying to stay clean through all of this for over two weeks. He had actually started the process three days before the world was about to end. But thank God, Allah, and any other deity for Five and his ability to time-travel. This time, _correctly._ And this time, with all of the siblings, including Ben.

They had jumped back to Harold Jenkins' family cabin during the time Vanya had been practicing her violin alone in the previous timeline, while Harold had gone out to take care of the surviving attack victim, and prior to her confrontation with Allison. As Vanya remained unconscious, the other siblings easily took care of their target once he returned: Diego had pierced Harold with his knives while Five had zapped behind Harold and strangled him with his uniform tie; Luther, Diego and Five subsequently buried his body and that of the surviving victim while Allison (whose voice was restored due to their return prior to the moment she was attacked before) and Klaus tended to Vanya.

Once Vanya had regained consciousness, she was back to herself. Allison had immediately said, "I love you, sis. I’m sorry for my part in all of this." Klaus had apologized afterward for not pushing harder that they help her, but now everyone wanted to do so. Once Vanya had realized that Pogo and Grace would now be alive again, she embraced her sister and brother. When the guys returned, each made their amends as well. Once everyone had returned to the fully-intact Academy, Vanya and Luther reconciled with Pogo, who agreed to guide the siblings in helping train a very willing Vanya to control her powers.

Vanya had gone on to perform in her concert as before. Klaus had willingly been the lookout this time, knowing that he and Ben could take out any mass gunmen if they would have arrived as before. None had come, and the apocalypse was averted. Everyone believed it was over.

Then, Five had subsequently learned that the Commission was still after them. It had turned out that the only reason nothing had happened at Vanya's concert this time was simply because the Commission hadn’t known about the original Handler's death until afterward. A new Handler had been assigned, and he had deployed two new temporal assassins who weren’t quite as good as Hazel and Cha-Cha; but they knew that their top priority was eliminating the other five surviving siblings in hopes of Vanya not being able to handle the grief and causing the apocalypse anyway.

Of course, everyone’s focus had been on helping train Vanya in controlling her powers. Besides some telltale cracks in the hallway during a lash-out intervention attempt between the argumentative Luther and Diego once, Vanya had been slowly learning how to control her emotions and --- more importantly --- effectively communicate her feelings when any conflicts arose between herself and anyone else. After all, everyone had their own shit to work through, and it had only been a couple of weeks since they had learned that the only way they could conquer any adversaries was being completely united as a family. And everyone had been doing pretty damn well, all things considered…until now.

Instead of coming to Klaus' defense after Luther and Five had accused him of getting high, Diego had _thought_ he had done the right thing by gently telling Klaus that if he _had_ relapsed Diego would understand. After all, Diego _had_ been hard on Klaus while they’d sat in his car following the altercation at the VFW bar as he grabbed and knocked pills out of Klaus' hands, until he had gotten Klaus to burst out, _I lost someone! The only person I ever truly loved more than myself._ Diego wasn’t able to get much more out of him as they had spotted Hazel coming out of Griddy's Doughnuts and then learned that Hazel and Cha-Cha _had_ kidnapped Klaus after all, and tortured him. Diego later had made the connection between Klaus' odd claims of being a vet and his loss to a briefcase he had stolen from Hazel and Cha-Cha, which evidently was used for time-travel; Luther had badgered Klaus about the briefcase following the ice cream truck disaster, but Klaus refused to talk and Diego had told Luther to drop it. Diego had never followed up on that because, of course, Luther and later Five had told the family of the impending apocalypse that was all of three days out and --- well, the rest was history --- or erased from history.

Diego had known that Klaus was in the process of sobering up and going through withdrawals during the initial apocalypse meeting; therefore, he had understood why Klaus wasn’t up to doing much saving of the world at that moment --- unlike Luther, who had wanted to stay behind believing the moon mission had something to do with this. By the time Diego had gotten help busting out of jail, the family had learned that not only had Sir Reginald Hargreeves sent his "Number One" up to the moon for nothing, but with Pogo's help their "father" had killed himself so that the family would reunite to stop the apocalypse that he had somehow known about in the first place.

Pogo had done a _lot_ of explaining and justifying his part in it. He partially understood Pogo's loyalty, since Sir Reginald had invented the potion that gave Pogo the human soul. But the other part of Diego was still working through forgiving Pogo for not admitting that Mom's programming had been altered, resulting in Diego making his most painful decision ever by shutting Mom down. Thank Christ that Pogo had restored her, and Diego had since noticed an even greater strength within her. He knew she forgave him; he was still working through forgiving himself.

He had let Mom down. He had let Eudora Patch down by looking for Five's drunk ass and not getting her message about finding Klaus in time. And he had let Klaus down by not realizing for twenty-four hours that Klaus had been kidnapped in the first place.

Diego needed to find Klaus, as he (with Ben) and Vanya were the two most powerful siblings and therefore the Commission's main targets. But there was no way he could get through to Klaus right now; he had already tried and fucked up spectacularly. Hopefully Ben could calm Klaus down; and more importantly, protect Klaus if anyone came after him.

So, Diego turned to face Luther; Number One had some explaining to do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Klaus!"

"Leave me alone, Ben!"

Klaus had been sprinting/marching through the city for ten minutes, trying to ignore Ben's pleas. He'd had it with Ben's constant lecturing. Klaus couldn't do anything right, whether sober or high as a fucking kite. So why give a shit anymore. 

"Klaus! Please! You have to go back and talk to them!"

"Oh, and why is that…" Klaus grinned cynically at his ghost brother, " _Benticles!_ "

The use of the despised nickname didn't deter Ben. "Because they want to understand!"

"You know what?" Klaus stopped to glare at his brother. "Screw you, Ben! The last time I listened to you, you went on and on about how Luther would stop at nothing to save…oh, how did you put it? Save my scrawny junkie ass? And what happened? Huh?"

"Klaus---"

"What happened?! Oh, yeah, I tried saving _his_ sorry ass at that rave, and got my fucking skull cracked in the process! Only to find that I apparently can't die because even God hates me! Figures that since I was always deemed the most useless member of the Umbrella Academy that God would feel the same way!"

"Klaus!" Ben tried cutting in again.

"No!" Klaus screamed. "I'm through listening to you! Nobody took me seriously until your appearance at the theater. People still don't take me seriously! I still can't talk to Dave…" Klaus trailed off, remembering the last time he had said those very words.

And sure enough, his hands started glowing. Thank the universe (not God, fucking little bitch) that they were on a side street where no other people were around.

Ben, now in blue form, stepped toward Klaus. Before he knew what he was doing, Klaus punched his brother where it counted.

"Shit…" Klaus trailed off as he watched Ben double over in pain. Ben quickly faded back to ghost form; and before Klaus could say anything further, Ben disappeared entirely.

Klaus stood in stunned silence. He looked at his left hand, the weapon he had just used on Ben. He had never struck out at any of his siblings --- besides Five; but of course, that was staged. The only other time since then was when he had head-butted that asshole Marine at the vet bar. And KOed one of the gunmen with Kenny's birthday cake at the bowling alley. 

But Ben, who had always stuck by Klaus. Klaus shouldn't have done that. And prior to that, Klaus had told off Diego, who had done his best to care for Klaus over the years whenever a john had precedently beaten the shit out of him, or when Klaus had no place else to go. Both brothers were Klaus' best friends. And he had now burnt bridges with each of them. 

Klaus continued walking as he passed Griddy's, and before he knew it, he was standing outside the VFW bar.

How he wished he could go in and see the platoon photo with him and Dave one more time. But Klaus and Diego were banned from there after that brawl and, of course, because of the assumption that he was mocking them in the first place.

After a moment, Klaus felt that dreaded temperature drop again as his hands began glowing once more. He quickly buried them under his multi-colored tank top (covered, of course, by his military overshirt) as he ducked around the corner of the strip mall into the alley. He pulled his hands back out, waiting for Ben or whoever (Dave, please) to appear. Nothing. Great, that meant that Ben was probably talking to everyone back at the Academy about what Klaus had just done to him.

Klaus slouched down against the building alongside the alley, as he felt the energy slowly draining from him. _Hurry up and tell them what you will, Ben._ Now he had even less of a reason to go back home --- oops, the Academy. Klaus had no true home, here on Earth or the afterlife.

Within a couple of minutes the glowing ceased. Klaus closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. He was exhausted. He needed to regain his strength quickly and figure out where he would go from here.

"Well. Long time no see, Klaus."

Startled, Klaus looked up. Standing in front of him was one of his drug dealers, Sidetrack.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Jesus…" Luther muttered a few moments after Klaus' exit. 

"Well, I’d say that went rather splendidly."

Diego glared at Five. "Seriously? Sometimes you can be a real asshole." Then he sharply turned to Luther. "So, Number Fucking One, what’s this about you choking Klaus and throwing him across the room?"

Luther's _oh, shit_ glance went from Diego to the other siblings, who apparently had no clue as to what Klaus had meant, either.

Diego felt his blood boil as he placed his hand on his knife harness. "Well?!"

Luther resumed his deer-in-headlights stare at Diego. "Uh, well, it was right after I found out that Dad sent me to the moon for nothing---"

"And you decided to take it out on Klaus?!" Diego kept his hand where it was. "What the hell, dude?!"

"I---I was drunk!" Luther stammered. "And I wanted Klaus to conjure Dad! When he said he couldn't…I don't know; I lost it."

"So, you choked him for that?" Diego was livid. And threw him across the room?"

Diego saw Luther swallow before muttering, "Uh, no. He tried to stop me from going out to get high for once."

"What the hell, Luther?" Vanya interjected as the room began to shake.

Allison quickly ran aside Vanya and threw her arm around Vanya's shoulders. "It's okay, Vanya," she whispered. Vanya took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and the shaking stopped.

"He was going through withdrawals, remember?!" Diego defended his absent "little" brother (who, according to Five, was now ironically ten months older). "He was too fucking sick to even walk! And yet, he found you high at the rave?!"

"Diego---" Allison cut in.

Diego sighed. Allison had apparently forgiven Luther for his one-night stand, for Klaus to have just made that remark about Luther and Allison being too loud in the bedroom at night. Diego knew that he needed to be kinder to Allison, considering what she had endured in the previous timeline. But Diego could _not_ excuse Luther for whatever shit he had pulled that day.

Luther let out an exasperated breath. "Look, I don't remember anything after taking those drugs. I mean, not until…" He looked at Allison and trailed off.

Just then, the room glowed bright blue as Ben stood before him.

"Ben!" Luther exclaimed suddenly before everyone noticed a pained expression on Ben's face. "Are you okay?"

Ben cuffed his hand over his mouth as he let out a cough. "I'm fine," Ben muttered as he crouched for a moment before standing back up straight. 

"Where's Klaus?" Diego quickly demanded. "Is he okay?"

Ben coughed once more. "Not really," he said gruffly. He cleared his throat and continued, "Last I saw him, he was probably ten blocks away. He won't talk to me."

"Hey, Ben," Five finally piped up. "We're trying to piece together what happened to Klaus and Luther at the rave that night."

"Since when do you start caring for Klaus, of all siblings?" Diego sneakily wondered.

"I _do_ care about him!" Five objected. "The Commission wants him for multiple reasons, after all."

Of course, Five had to bring up the Commission, Diego thought to himself. At least Five did indeed show some sort of caring.

Ben eyed Luther, and then the others.

"Come on, Ben," Diego insisted, having picked up Ben's nonverbal cues.

"Diego, you have to promise me you won't hurt Luther."

Diego glared at Luther before demanding to Ben, "Spill it, bro."

Ben hesitated, and then he sighed.

"Luther's so-called 'date' didn't come to the bar alone. The guy she originally was with…he got pissed and went toward Luther, with another guy who had a baseball bat."

"Jesus!" Allison looked horrified at Luther.

"I told Klaus to help him. Before that, when we were out looking for him…" Ben glared at Luther, "I'd told Klaus there was nothing that Luther wouldn't do for him."

"And?" Diego said impatiently. 

Ben sighed again. "Klaus jumped on the dude's back and got thrown to the ground. He hit his head, apparently, because the next thing I knew, other people crowded around Klaus and…." Ben trailed off again.

" _What?!_ " Allison and Vanya exclaimed in unison. 

"They said he was dead!" Ben blurted out. Before Diego could process those words, Ben continued, "A couple of the girls tried CPR on him. Everyone was standing around, scared. Everyone but…." Ben stopped himself once more.

"Luther." Diego coldly stared at Number One.

"He and the girl were too high to know what was going on," Ben glared at Luther. "So the bouncer kicked them out." He turned back to Diego. "That was actually how Klaus wound up talking to Dad. He was revived a few minutes later.

Diego felt his anger rise more as he continued staring daggers at Luther. Meanwhile, Ben faded away.

"Shit!" Vanya exclaimed worriedly. "We still don't know where Klaus is!"

Diego glared once more at Luther. "I'm gonna go find him," he said as he turned toward the front entrance.

"Diego---" Luther started to say, horrified.

Diego quickly spun back to face Luther. "Don't talk to me. Right now I want to send a few knives your way. But right now, I need to find my brother. 

No one said anything further as Diego marched out the front doors.


	2. Chapter 2

Klaus stood along the dock of the pier --- the same location where he had sat in Diego's car the night of Sir Reggie's funeral --- holding the small baggie of pills in his hand.

He had told Sidetrack (the dude's street name, that is; real names of any connections were either unknown or kept secret by those who knew) that he was done doing drugs. Sidetrack gave Klaus the baggie free of charge as a "parting gift," anyway.

Klaus knew Sidetrack's angle, of course: Klaus could pop the pills and begin the cycle all over again. Klaus was, after all, one of Sidetrack's top customers.

_ Why not, _ Klaus thought to himself.  _ Nobody believes in me, not even Diego. And Ben…. _

Klaus cringed at the recollection of what he had done to Ben. While Diego had always helped Klaus on the outside, Ben was the only sibling who had truly seen what Klaus had put himself through, in the duration of his adult life thus far. Ben had seen all of the times that Klaus had been resuscitated from an overdose. And the countless occasions that Klaus had gotten beaten up by johns who refused to pay him, or because Klaus was…well, "different" from the average male (he was non-binary, after all), and because Klaus would never fight back.

Yeah, Klaus never fought back. He had let Luther hold him up to the pillar by his throat and then throw him to the ground. And besides Klaus head-butting that asshole Marine, Diego was the one who fought their way out of the bar. (Even though Diego had said nothing about it afterward, Klaus knew that Diego hated having to assault the men who had risked their lives to serve their country.) And Ben deserved the true credit for taking out the gunmen in the theater.

And yet, Klaus assaulted his brother in the worst way. It was impulsive, the same way Vanya had slashed Allison's throat in the original timeline and regretted it immediately afterward. But Vanya was unaware then of how  _ destructive _ her power was; and in Vanya's defense, Allison had tried rumoring her after having just found out she had rumored Vanya into forgetting her powers when they were four. And most importantly, Allison was okay now, and Vanya took ownership for her own actions.

Vanya was getting better, while Klaus was still fucking up. Case in point, the fact that he was holding the baggie of pills. And right now, he was  _ craving _ the fix.

_ Play the tape over in your head, _ they would say in rehab and the few twelve-step meetings that Klaus had been court-mandated to attend.  _ Your disease is doing push-ups. First thought wrong. Your best thinking was what got you here. We’ll love you until you learn to love yourself. _

Fuck that. Yeah, maybe his siblings loved him…probably even Luther and Five, in their own way. But they didn’t believe in him, except Ben.

Except, Ben was also the only one who had known the pure hell that Reggie had put Klaus through as a kid. Repeatedly locking him in that mausoleum with corpses as young as eight years old, and within a five-year time period. And yet, Ben called Klaus a colossal wimp.

Before Klaus could think further, he heard a familiar car engine in the distance. He shoved the baggie in his military shirt pocket moments before the headlights shone. He turned to face the Rolls Royce with the damn  _ HERMES _ vanity plate in front of him.

The engine stopped, the lights shut off, and Diego emerged from the driver's side.

"Go away," Klaus angrily snapped as he turned to walk away alongside the dock.

He heard the door slam shut, and before Klaus knew it, Diego was in front of him blocking his path. "Klaus…" Diego placed his hands on Klaus' shoulders. 

Klaus immediately jerked away and backed up. "I said  _ leave me alone! _ " He turned and started to walk off when he suddenly felt a grip on each of his wrists as his hands got pulled behind him, while simultaneously Diego wrapped his right leg around both of Klaus' legs, thus detaining him. " _ FUCK YOU, DIEGO! _ "

Keeping his grip, Diego said firmly, "You are going to listen to me, Okay? I’m not here to judge you, or lecture you, or assume you’re high; I know you’re not. I just want to talk to you, and listen to you." With that, Diego let go of Klaus' wrists, and still from behind Klaus he wrapped his arms around Klaus' chest. "And tell you that I’m sorry I thought you’d relapsed, and I’m here for you, bro."

Klaus felt the lump in his throat and his eyes sting.  _ Damn it. _ Diego always had a way of getting through to him. Despite being as abrasive as he was in general, and the amount of times he (like Ben) had practiced tough love on Klaus, Diego also had a soft side which exhibited itself during Klaus' most vulnerable moments. Klaus both loved and hated this quality of his brother. Klaus could never stay mad at him, or the world in general.

Klaus felt his shoulders heave as the tears fell. Diego tightened his grip. "It’s okay, bro," Diego said quietly.

With his now free hands, Klaus wiped his tears and took a deep breath as he relaxed.

"Are we good?" Diego loosened his grip as well.

Klaus swallowed and nodded.

"Come on," Diego motioned toward the Rolls Royce. "Let’s sit in the car and talk."

Once inside, Klaus sighed. "So, I guess you guys got a visit by Benny while I was out."

Diego nodded. "Yeah, we did."

"And he hates me, I’m sure," Klaus said sadly. "After what I did to him."

Diego looked at Klaus, seemingly puzzled. "What're you talking about?"

"He didn’t tell you how I manifested him long enough to deck him in the nuts?!" Klaus asked, surprised.

Diego jerked his head back. "No shit?" He chuckled. "Well, that explains why he looked like hell for a minute."

"Damn it!" Klaus remained filled with regret. "I didn’t mean to. I just---well, he wouldn’t leave me alone, and I was sick of listening to him."

"No, he didn’t," Diego assured him. "But he did shed some light on some shit. Not just what you said about Luther choking you, but also what went down at the rave."

Klaus sighed and kept his gaze forward.

"Why didn't you ever say anything, Klaus?" Diego inquired sadly. 

Klaus then shot a glare at Diego. "Because nobody --- Luther and Five, at least --- believed anything I told them about Dear Old Daddy's reveal the next morning until Pogo confirmed it. How would they have taken it if they knew that I had to visit the afterlife in order to talk to him?!" Klaus quickly decided to leave out the part about God. "And none of you believed that I manifested Ben until his appearance at the theater. So, of course, if you think I'm using, nothing I say is going to convince you that I'm not."

"Klaus," Diego interjected, "we fucked up when we thought you were using. I should have defended you. I'm sorry. And I did believe you at the bowling alley."

"Bullshit!" Klaus figured that Diego was lying to him in order to make the family's doubts in him seem less than they actually were.

"It's the truth, Klaus," Diego insisted. "Otherwise, why would you have given him the credit when I insisted everyone listen to you because I thought that  _ you _ had saved my life? I just never got the chance to tell you because---"

"I opened my big mouth about Luther getting laid," Klaus sighed. 

"Well, yeah, and then there was that whole awkward thing with Kenny's mom…" Diego cleared his throat, "and then shit went down, and…well, we just never talked about it. But I did believe you."

Klaus felt his eyes sting again as he looked Diego in the eye. "Do you  _ promise  _ me you're telling me the truth?"

Diego made direct eye contact in return. "Yes, I do. And so does everyone else. So, can we go back home now?"

Klaus hesitated. "Sure, but one more thing."

Klaus emerged from the car and slowly walked toward the edge of the pier. He took out the bag of pills and was about to dump them in the water when he stopped.  _ That's bad for the environment, _ he realized. Instead, he opened the baggie and let the pills fall to the ground. With his bare foot, he still managed to grind them up like Hazel did at the motel. With his other foot Klaus spread the remains until they blended in with the other debris among the asphalt. 

As Klaus got back in the car he noted Diego's surprised expression. "I didn't go looking for drugs. I ran into my dealer. I told him I quit, and---"

"Klaus," Diego gently cut him off. "I get it. I know how these scumbags operate. They give you a parting gift hoping to get you hooked again." Diego then smiled at Klaus. "And I'm proud of you, brother. Now, let's get outta here."

Klaus weakly smiled back and nodded as Diego started the car engine. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for all of the feedback and kudos. I don’t completely know where I will go with this story, but I hope to wrap this up in the next couple of chapters following this one.
> 
> I still have a couple of fics here that need updating. My life has taken a drastic turn (but improving), and I have not had time to do much here, including reading the fics of those to whom I am subscribed. To those whose fics for which I have commented myself, I will do my best to get to yours and communicate accordingly once again. 😻💖

Diego drove the car in silence as he and Klaus headed back toward the Academy. There were still unanswered questions Diego had regarding his brother sitting next to him in the passenger seat, gazing out the window.

How traumatic was it for Klaus to deal with the ghosts as a kid, before the drugs had taken over? Diego recalled occasions of hearing Klaus screaming in the middle of the night; Ben would always go to him and often spend the night, regardless of such gestures violating Sir Reginald's rules. Almost immediately after Ben had been killed during that horrific mission several months after the siblings had turned seventeen, Klaus had bolted and everyone else soon followed --- except Luther, of course. Over the years, Diego had tried to look out for Klaus --- when neither of them were in jail, that was (in Diego's case, after he had been expelled from the Police Academy and arrested by Eudora any time his vigilanté work interfered with her police, and later detective, work); and when Klaus was unable to find a place to stay.

Of course, Diego's other unanswered question was Klaus' time in the past, and who he lost. However, Diego hadn’t wanted to push Klaus too far with his inquiries at the pier. He was just grateful he could get through to Klaus with what little they had discussed, considering whatever lowlife had given Klaus the "complementary parting gift." Diego knew he had plenty of time to probe his brother about these concerns.

Or so Diego hoped. Something wasn’t right as he glanced at his rearview mirror. The same car had been following them since a couple of blocks from the pier. It was too dark for Diego to make out the occupants. The new Commission-appointed assassins were simply known as Jet and Crimson; according to Five, Crimson was a redheaded female with a personality similar to that of Cha-Cha while Jet was an Alaskan Native male. Five had dodged them after he had decided to once again visit Gimble Brothers and retrieve Delores. (After having narrowly averted the apocalypse, Five had decided he would never leave "her" behind again; whatever.)

Diego quickly made a left turn, instead of the right which was on their route home.

"D?" Klaus perked up as Diego saw the car follow them.

"Be prepared," Diego kept his eye on the mirror.

Klaus peered through the side-view mirror. "Is that…?"

Diego nodded. "I think so. Is Ben with us?"

Klaus let out a sharp breath. "No. Damn it! I fucked up and he probably---"

"Klaus, don’t," Diego cut him off. Now wasn’t the time for Klaus to reprimand himself; he needed Klaus to focus. "Keep your hand on the steering wheel for a sec."

Klaus complied while Diego pulled several knives from his harness. Diego rolled down the window and thrust one of them toward the other car. As he expected, the knife pierced the front driver's side tire, causing a blowout and the car to spin out of control and land in the field.

Diego quickly pulled over, and he and Klaus watched the driver and passenger emerge. Sure enough, it was a suited couple who matched Five's descriptions. And within that split second, they began firing their guns.

" _Get down!_ " Diego instantly yanked Klaus down with him on the front seat as bullets shattered the windshield. Diego quickly peeked as he threw two knives that hit their targets but didn’t take them down.

What the fuck were these Commission people made of? Getting attacked by his knives did nothing to Hazel and Cha-Cha, either.

" _Ben, where are you?!_ " Klaus screamed with his hands covering his ears as more gunfire erupted within another split second. Still ducking, Diego managed to turn on their own car's engine. He threw two more knives out the window as he quickly shot up in his seat and slammed his foot on the gas. With the tires peeling, Diego managed to get them the hell out of there.

Klaus quickly sat himself back up as well. "Shit," he muttered as the cold air stung the both of them. With the windshield busted they had, of course, nothing to _shield_ the _wind._

"We’ve gotta get home," Diego exclaimed as he barrelled the Rolls Royce back down the road.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luther sat in the bedroom, replaying in his head everything that had just been discussed with his family in the living room.

He vaguely recalled his conversation with Klaus during that day referenced. Klaus had gone out of his way to comfort Luther after Luther had just choked him moments before. All he remembered at the rave was convincing some girls to give him the drugs if he promised to remove his upper clothing. He popped the pill and had suddenly felt euphoric; he indeed recalled nothing after that until the next morning.

Luther was supposed to be the leader; yet, because he fucked up, his brother had nearly _permanently_ lost his life. And after Klaus had been so kind to him before.

Diego and Ben were right. Luther had only continued to treat Klaus like shit. And he just did so tonight. He felt a sick sensation at the pit of his stomach. _Klaus almost died --- he did actually die --- because of my ignorance._ He needed to treat Klaus better. Yes, Klaus had been an addict and thief in the past; but ever since the day of that ice cream truck incident, Luther could now see how hard Klaus had tried to be an actual contributing member of the family.

He could hear the front doors open. "Where the hell is everyone?!" Luther heard Diego bellow.

Luther quickly composed himself and headed down the stairs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With his hand on Klaus' shoulder, Diego guided his brother back into the living room. They both sat down on one of the couches. Within a few moments they were joined by the other siblings, sans any presence of Ben, ghost or otherwise.

Of course, some of the other ghosts were still lurking around. _Damn it,_ Klaus thought to himself. _All of the ghosts are here, but Ben. I need him._ He paused. _He’s afraid of me. I drove him away._

Before Klaus could continue down the rabbit hole of self-hatred, Luther awkwardly cleared his throat. "Klaus." Luther sat a very comfortable three feet from Klaus, while Diego rested his hand on Klaus' forearm. Luther eyed Diego, and then back at Klaus. He sighed. "Look, Klaus. I had no idea any of that had happened to you at the rave. I…uh…" Luther looked guiltily at Allison before returning his gaze to Klaus. "I honestly don’t remember anything after I took those pills, but…" Luther blinked again and drew a deep breath. "You tried to stop me here, earlier. It was really shitty of me to attack you like I did. You were trying to help me, and I hurt you. Twice." Luther’s eyes moistened. "I know I was upset finding out about the moon mission, and I got drunk…and alcohol and I clearly don’t mix well. But I was sober when you tried to tell me --- all of us --- that you’d manifested Ben, and that he’d saved Diego's life here."

Vanya blinked back tears. Klaus knew that she still harbored guilt for her actions the first time around, even though neither Pogo nor their mother had any memory of what had happened to them then.

"I’m sorry, Vanya." Luther quickly glanced at her.

Vanya blinked back tears. "It’s okay, Luther. I know I wasn’t --- well, you know…." She trailed off.

Luther turned back to Klaus. "Anyway, I’m sorry. You deserve a lot more credit than we’ve given you. Or, at least, that I have."

Klaus watched as Luther blinked back his own tears. He felt a lump in his throat. For the first time, someone else was giving him credit besides Diego and Ben. Ben, whom Klaus had harmed, himself. "It’s okay, big guy." Klaus felt his eyes water. "You’re not the only one who hurt someone. I hurt Ben."

Diego squeezed Klaus' arm. "Klaus, don’t---"

"I have to, D.," Klaus interrupted him. He quickly explained his own regret of a couple of hours earlier. "I can’t be mad at you when I 'paid it forward' to Ben tonight."

"Ben was the one who explained things to us," Allison reminded Klaus. "I don’t think he’s upset with you."

"He explained some things," Five piped up. "But not everything."

Klaus felt a sense of dread. What the hell else did they need to know? Within that same moment, he figured it out.

"Five, now's not the time---"

"No," Klaus again cut Diego off. "What do you mean, Five? Where I went for ten months?"

Vanya and Allison exchanged glances. "What do you mean?" Vanya approached Klaus. Luther quickly got up from the couch and Vanya sat right next to Klaus.

Klaus looked at Diego, who moved his hand from Klaus' forearm to his shoulder. "Is that why…?" Diego cut himself off; Klaus' own facial expression must have confirmed Diego's question.

Klaus nodded. "Yeah, that whole scene at the bar." He quickly scanned the confused expressions of his other siblings. Trying his best to ignore the ghosts that still continued to lurk, Klaus continued, "When Hazel and Cha-Cha held me hostage, and after Diego's friend rescued me…" Klaus looked at Diego. "I swear, D., she was fine when I escaped. I didn’t know---"

"Don’t, Klaus," Diego squeezed Klaus' shoulder. "You did the right thing. Cha-Cha would’ve killed you both."

Klaus took a deep breath before glancing again at his siblings. "I escaped through the air vent, and stole their briefcase. I’d figured there was money in it, or I could pawn it. But I opened it. Next thing I knew, I was in the fucking Vietnam war. 1968."

The room grew dead silent.

" _What?!_ " Five finally exclaimed. " _That’s_ where you were for ten months?! Why didn’t you come back immediately?"

Klaus felt a surge of anger. Here he was, being judged yet again. He was sick of this.

"Screw you, Five!" Klaus suddenly exclaimed. "I don’t need to explain myself to you. I just came back, okay?"

Klaus shot up from the couch; and immediately, Diego also sprang up and grabbed Klaus before he could run.

"Don’t do this," Diego again wrapped his arms around Klaus' chest and gently pulled him back to the couch. "I beat the shit out of a bunch of Marines because of whatever you went through, bro. You’ve gotta tell us what happened."

As Diego kept a protective arm around Klaus' shoulders, Vanya gently took Klaus' hand.

Klaus again scanned his siblings around the room. Everyone appeared concerned; even Five looked more intrigued than judgmental. He took another deep breath. "I met someone. Dave." He felt his eyes sting. "He was the only person I ever loved more than myself, like I told Diego the day I got back." Klaus sighed once more as the tears fell. "He was killed on the front lines." Klaus dropped his gaze. "He died in my arms."

Again, silence. Vanya squeezed Klaus' hand.

"Shit," Five finally muttered. Then he looked solemnly at Klaus. "I’m sorry, Klaus. I was a jerk to you that morning."

Luther looked at Diego. "I’m glad you were there for him."

"You really beat the shit out of a bunch of Marines?" Five eyed Diego, impressed.

"Wait," Diego interjected, looking at Klaus. "That collage at the bar. That was your platoon, wasn’t it?"

Klaus wiped his eyes and nodded.

"What _are_ you talking about?" Luther wondered.

Diego quickly explained having dropped Klaus off at the VFW and soon going in himself, determined to get Klaus to talk, and the confrontation by the vet and the brawl that had ensued.

"That was why you two were so quiet after leaving that scene with Hazel and Cha-Cha," Luther realized.

Diego nodded. "Klaus was really hurting. He wasn’t himself, man. He’d just started coming around when we saw Hazel, and you know what went down from there."

"Well, at least we don’t have to worry about them anymore," Luther said.

"No," Five agreed before reminding everyone, "But we still have the Commission on our asses."

Klaus quickly exchanged glances with Diego, before turning back to Five.

"Uh, about that."


	4. Chapter 4

"What the hell, guys?!" Luther exclaimed to Diego and Klaus after he and the other siblings examined the wreckage of the car out in back. "Why didn’t you tell us when you first got back?"

Allison lightly slapped Luther on his gargantuan-sized arm. "Because we were all concerned about Klaus," she reminded him. "You especially wanted to make amends with him.

Luther obviously didn’t argue with that. He had seen the damage that his actions against Vanya had caused; now, two weeks later, he also knew what he had done to Klaus. He needed to do better. "You’re right. I’m sorry."

"It’s okay, Big Guy," Klaus smiled. Then he said sadly, "Ben definitely would have taken them out if I hadn't scared him off."

"The Commission would’ve eventually sent more people," Five pointed out. "Like the original Handler said, everyone is just a small cog in a machine."

"And you’re sure that nobody explained why the Commission believes the apocalypse is supposed to happen?" Luther asked.

"If I knew, I’d tell you," Five said irritably. "The old Handler used to say some Yiddish bullshit about the eggs thinking they’re smarter than the chicken. I was simply to do as I was told, and not question anything. Of course, I’m a little too smart to do just that."

"But not smart enough to stop the Commission," Vanya slyly pointed out.

Klaus chuckled. "She’s got you there, little old man."

Five rolled his eyes and quickly got back to the important subject. "So, we’re gonna take the plumbing van and go back to where you saw those two lunatics. And we’re all going to go. So, Klaus, you need to figure out where Ben went off to, and apologize or do whatever you need to do to get him back with us. We need the full force of the Academy. Especially Vanya, if Klaus can’t get Ben in time."

Klaus sighed. "This is all my fault---"

"We don’t have time for this!" Five exclaimed. "So let’s quit lollygagging and get on the road!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Of course, by the time the six siblings arrived, any sign of wreckage was gone. With the description of the car (similar to that which Hazel and Cha-Cha had used), Diego drove the van past all of the tow truck lots he knew; of course, he found the wrecked car at the penultimate site on his list. No Jet or Crimson, though. Five figured they had taken the taxi back to whatever dirtbag motel where they were staying.

By the time they got back to the Academy, it was past midnight. Diego carried Klaus, who had fallen asleep on the way back. He carefully laid Klaus down on his bed. He then grabbed his bed mattress from his own bedroom and made room for it on Klaus' floor. After the night Klaus had, and especially now knowing how traumatic Klaus' superpower was for him, Diego wanted to ensure that Klaus wasn’t alone.

Diego was startled awake sometime during the night by piercing screams.

" _PLEASE, DADDY!_ " Klaus shrieked. " _I WANT TO GO HOME! PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE!_ "

Diego quickly sprang up to Klaus' bed and shook his brother gently. "Klaus! Wake up!"

Klaus also shot up, hyperventilating.

"Klaus!" Diego clamped his hands on his brother’s shoulders as Klaus continued sobbing and breathing rapidly.

"They’re all here! They’re all real!"

"Klaus, you were having a nightmare." Diego tried to sound less panicked than he felt.

The bedroom door swung open. "What the hell is going on?" Luther demanded, followed by Five, Allison and Vanya.

"I’ve got this, guys," Diego barked at Luther, startling Klaus. Diego pulled Klaus, still hysterical, against his chest. "I’m sorry, man," Diego tried softening his tone with Klaus before eyeing his other siblings once more. "I’ve got this," he repeated.

Luther reluctantly closed the door.

Suddenly Klaus' hands glowed. Ben was sitting on the bed with them.

"Thank _Christ_ you’re here, Ben!" Diego exclaimed, relieved.

Ben took Klaus' hands in his. "It’s okay, Klaus," he said soothingly. "You’re here with me and Diego. You’re not in the mausoleum."

_What the hell?_ Diego wondered.

Meanwhile, Ben continued talking Klaus down. "It’s okay, Klaus. Just breathe. You’re safe."

"I’m sorry, Ben," Klaus said through hitching breaths. "I’m sorry I hurt you."

"It’s okay," Ben gently stroked Klaus' curls. "I’m not mad at you. I forgive you. I love you."

Klaus closed his eyes and continued sobbing, although his breathing was nearly back to normal.

Ben carefully moved Klaus back to Diego. "Take care of him," Ben quietly ordered Diego.

Diego knew what Ben meant. Manifesting anyone drained Klaus of his strength. But what the hell did Ben mean about a mausoleum?!

"I’ll be back with you all tomorrow," Ben said. With that he was gone.

Diego continued to hold Klaus, stroking his hair and rocking him as his sobbing gradually lessened.

"Klaus," Diego finally asked after a few minutes. "What were you and Ben talking about?"

And that was when Diego was told the worst of what he had ever heard about Klaus. It was bad enough for Klaus to have been kidnapped and tortured, catapulted to 'Nam where his lover died in his arms, strangled by Luther and left for dead at the rave. Diego now knew the truth about Klaus' childhood and "special training." That their sick asshole bastard of a "father" had repeatedly locked Klaus in a mausoleum with corpses for five years. No wonder Klaus became a drug addict.

Diego held Klaus as Klaus cried himself to sleep on his chest. But Diego was too angry to fall asleep himself. Instead, he held his brother more tightly.

"I love you, Klaus. I promise I’m going to take better care of you."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I realized that I never thought about the fact that Klaus' special training was elaborated in Sir Reginald's journal, and accordingly, the siblings should have already known if they had it. So this chapter includes an explanation of what happened to it since they killed Leonard before Vanya would have slashed Allison's throat in the cabin.
> 
> This fic is becoming a bit longer than I had originally expected! 😸

There was a rap on Klaus' bedroom door at 9 a.m. the next morning.

"Huh?" Klaus jerked awake from where he had been lying on Diego's chest.

"Who is it?" Diego demanded. "And wait for one of us to say you can come in." Last thing that either Diego or Klaus needed was for any smartass commentary from Five about them sharing a bed after that awkward moment at the bowling alley (even though Five had since made no mention of it; and, of course, they later learned that Five had immediately gotten contacted by his boss afterward, hence his sudden disappearance until the theater shootout). 

"It’s Vanya," her timid voice said through the door, "and Allison."

Klaus looked at Diego. "It’s okay." Klaus got up, and Diego moved to the chair next to the bed as Klaus opened the door.

"Hey," Vanya said as she and Allison cautiously entered the room.

"Hey, V. Allie." Klaus motioned to the bed. "Give me a minute." As the two sat down, Klaus opened his closet to retrieve a fresh shirt, and then his dresser drawer to grab a pair of underwear. "Be right back." He headed toward the bathroom.

"Is he okay?" Allison asked Diego after Klaus closed the bathroom door.

Diego sighed. "I’m not sure." To be honest, Diego wasn’t certain whether right now was the time to rehash the other bombshell he had just learned overnight.

Allison sighed. "Five wants to call another family meeting. Luther sent us up here to make sure that Klaus was up to it first."

"What’s Five's game plan now?" Diego wondered, feeling a hint of dread.

Vanya looked hesitantly at Allison, and then back at Diego. "Well, you know how Ben told us that Klaus conjured all of Hazel and Cha-Cha's victims in the motel---"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah," Diego cut her off. "I know where this is going. Five wants to find Jet and Crimson and manifest their victims, right?"

Vanya and Allison uneasily nodded. 

"Yeah. Not gonna happen," Diego said authoritatively. "Not right now, anyway."

"Diego, what happened last night?" Allison inquired. "I mean, with his nightmare?"

Diego hesitated. "I don’t think---"

Just then the bathroom door opened, and Klaus emerged having changed his clothes --- besides the military overshirt and his leather pants, which Diego knew were Klaus' staple items since his return from the past. "You want to ask me?" Klaus looked at his sisters as he reentered the bedroom. "Go ahead."

A flash of blue light, and Five stood before them all. "So?"

"Jesus, Five!" Diego glared at him. "You’ve got really shitty timing, you know that?!"

A sound of footsteps was heard, and Luther appeared at the door. "Five, I told you to wait."

Klaus abruptly threw his hands in the air. "Just stop, all right?! Everyone just stop!"

"No!" Five cut in. "Look, when we destroyed Jenkins' car we didn’t know yet how he’d manipulated Vanya…or that Dad’s journal was in it!" (Along with getting rid of Leonard and Mr. Luntz's bodies, the guys had also sent Leonard's car flying into the lake; it was two-hundred feet at the bottom, leaving very slim chance that the vehicle would be recovered in the near or far-distant future.) Five looked at Klaus. "I know you don’t want to do it, but we need to retrain you like dad did when we were kids---"

"That would be a hell fucking no!" Diego shot up from his seat with hand on his harness as Luther blocked him from Five. "Let! Me! Go!" Diego yelled. 

"Would you guys stop?!" Klaus cried out as his hands glowed once again, and Ben appeared. Luther let go of Diego.

"Klaus, or Diego," Ben said quietly. "One of you needs to tell them."

"Tell us what, Ben?" Luther inquired.

"I’ll be here with Klaus, or close by. In case anything happens."

"Wait," Luther responded to Ben. "Where were you last night, when the Commission was after them?"

"Luther---" Diego started to say, remembering Klaus' initial assumption that Ben was mad at --- or worse yet --- afraid of Klaus.

"I’ll explain later," Ben cut Diego off before looking at Klaus. "But remember, I was never mad at you. But you need your strength." With that, Ben disappeared. 

Luther looked at Diego and Klaus. "So, what  _ was _ Ben talking about?"

Klaus sighed, but Diego put his hand on Klaus' chest. "Don’t, man. Let me explain. You don’t need to rehash this all again." He looked at the others. "Hang tight for a minute." 

Diego led Klaus out of the room. They located Grace, who agreed to take Klaus to the kitchen and fix him waffles. Then Diego returned to the bedroom, where he explained what Sir Reginald had actually put Number Four through. As he talked, he saw Vanya's eyes widen with horror. Diego knew that Vanya understood forced solitary confinement. 

"Jesus," Vanya said mournfully as Allison slipped her arm around Vanya's shoulders. "I mean, being locked up is one thing, but being locked with…and seeing…." Vanya trailed off, obviously unable to complete her sentence.

Luther hesitated. "I mean…" he looked at Vanya, "I don’t know if I’ll ever completely forgive myself for what I did to either you or him…."

"There was a lot more to forgive from me," Vanya solemnly reminded him.

"That truly wasn’t you, sis," Allison reminded her in return.

"But," Luther continued, "Klaus was the most adamant about me letting you out of there."

Vanya nodded. "I saw him head for the chamber door and you shoved him away," she said.

Luther nodded. "Now I understand his comment back then. He said how you must be terrified to discover you could do something you never thought that you could do."

"Wait," Five suddenly piped up. "What if Klaus starts manifesting ghosts that he doesn’t want to? Ghosts that are dangerous? I mean, like my victims when I was a hitman?"

"Or any of our victims from Academy missions?" Allison added. "I mean, no offense, Five, but you killed innocent people---"

"Thanks," Five said snarkily.

"Allison's right," Luther cut in. "We only killed bad guys. What if they come back to try and destroy us?"

"Ben can’t eliminate them," Vanya pointed out. "He can’t kill someone that’s already dead. For that matter, neither can I."

"Okay, then!" Diego quickly interjected. "We need to figure out a solution! We need to help Klaus!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So, the siblings consulted Pogo. And for two weeks, as Klaus received intensive (but far less traumatic) training within the confines of the Academy, the siblings stuck close by one another, knowing that the Commission wouldn’t come near them if they all stayed banded together. And Klaus gradually was able to control his superpower. So, they were ready to take on their assassins. And they all hoped that their collective plan would indeed work.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And, that’s a wrap, folks! Thank you all for the comments and kudos! 💖

April 30th turned out to be the day that the plan of all seven siblings would come to fruition.

The night before, Five zapped Luther, Vanya and Klaus to a secret location. The three siblings hid awaiting the return of the others as Five then teleported himself, Diego and Allison to a car-rental company after hours. 

Diego first disabled the security alarms and video cameras there. Then, he broke into a minivan and hotwired it. After Allison drove it off the lot, Diego and Five quickly reset all surveillance equipment after Five had deleted any records of the minivan from the car-rental database. Allison drove the car back to the secret location; they made it there without getting pulled over, meaning that she did not have to rumor any cops. Five did teleport Allison back to the car-rental company the next morning to instead use her power on all employees so they would forget the existence of the van in the first place.

Meanwhile, Diego applied to their stealth vehicle the license plate of Hazel and Cha-Cha's car, which had somehow been left abandoned and unnoticed in Jackpine Cove this whole time; like Leonard's car, that vehicle now also sat at the bottom of the lake. So much for the environment, Klaus had said; Five pointed out that it was better than the entire world going up in flames.

Allison then sported a straightened shoulder-length African-American-style wig, donned unstylish and matronly-looking clothing, and removed all make-up from her face. She drove the van around town until she spotted the motel where Jet and Crimson's car was parked. After retrieving the siblings, she drove them all back. And that was where, from the car, Klaus got to work.

He summoned the ghosts of several of the assassins' victims, all of whom easily and eagerly manifested in their motel room. In ghost form, Ben subsequently checked and confirmed that Jet and Crimson were dead. The siblings all knew that any fingerprints left by the corporeal ghosts would, at the very most, be traced back to decades before as they had with Five --- if at all.

Then came the most important task.

With the briefcase in hand, Five teleported himself and Vanya to the Commission. Before the Handler or any remaining employees (survivors of Five's previous destruction, that was) could react, Vanya quickly swiped her violin bow and killed everyone there. The two spent time reviewing all case notes and sent explosive devices inside each tube to all field personnel. Everyone except Hazel, who had left with Agnes to his timeline of origin and removed his tracking device. Vanya then swiped her bow again, and Five grabbed her hand and opened the briefcase once more just before the entire Commission exploded.

When they landed back in the hiding spot in the April 30, 2019 timeline, the briefcase itself burst into flames. Five quickly zapped himself and Vanya to safety as the briefcase disintegrated.

The minivan was the final vehicle to get sent to the bottom of the lake, and then Five teleported everyone back home.

They destroyed the Commission and saved the world. Everyone celebrated. Even Diego and Klaus, despite knowing that they would never see their first true loves alive again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

However, that night, in Klaus' room, he manifested Eudora for his favorite living brother.

She assured Diego how proud she was of him, and that she had no regrets breaking protocol to save his brother’s life. She reminded him that all law enforcement officers understand the risks in their professions; that there are days in which one may not make it home. Diego promised her he would do better, in order to honor her memory and his family.

Klaus felt a sense of sadness after Eudora disappeared. Diego knew immediately what this was about and sat next to his brother. "Talk to me, Klaus," he said quietly as he rubbed Klaus' shoulder. 

Klaus looked at Diego through watery eyes. "All this time. I’ve tried to at least conjure him. I’ve never been able to." The tears fell from his face and his voice quivered. "I---I guess within these fifty years, he gave up."

The floodgates then opened once again. Diego held his brother and rocked him as Klaus sobbed uncontrollably for several minutes.

Just as Klaus had cried himself out, his hands glowed. He and Diego looked up. But they didn’t see Ben. Instead, a man in uniform with an abdominal wound stood before them.

" _Dave!_ " Klaus shrieked as he darted up and ran in the arms of the man in blue form.

Diego stared dumbfounded at them both for a moment. Then he gathered his bearings. "Uh, I’ll be in my room, bro."

After Diego exited, Dave reverted to ghost form, still visible to Klaus.

"How---how did you find me?" Klaus gleefully inquired.

"Well," Dave explained, "it took me a couple of hours to adjust to the afterlife. By the time my spirit returned to the forest, I heard our platoon say you had disappeared. I couldn’t find you in the afterlife, so I figured you’d become a POW. But I could never find you. I gave up after a number of years. But I never lost hope that I would someday find you. Either alive, or in the afterlife. But I was afraid that if it was the former, too many years would have passed for me to recognize you." Dave smiled. "But here you are, same as I remember you."

"Uh, yeah," Klaus stammered. "That’s kind of a long and complicated story." Then he remembered. "Wait. I _was_ in the afterlife not long ago. But only for a few minutes. Long enough to talk to my asshole adopted father. And because God doesn’t want me there."

Dave sighed. "She never told me."

"Figures." Klaus sighed. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, how did you find me, then?"

Dave smiled. "Ben. He didn’t know how to find me here until recently. And you have nothing to explain, Honey. I now know who you are…how you got to Country…the time-travel. And what you all did today. I’m proud of you, Baby."

Klaus beamed at his first true love. "Thank you, Sweetheart."

Dave looked at Klaus earnestly. "But…." He trailed off.

Klaus sighed. "I know."

Dave smiled again. "I want you to live your life. Hopefully find someone. No matter what happens, even when you do fall in true love again, we will be united in eternity. Love is limitless there. I can’t explain it. But you will understand when you get there for good. And I promise you that until you do, I will always watch over you."

Klaus' hands glowed again. Dave turned blue and kissed him on the lips.

"I love you, Dave," Klaus said after they pulled away.

"I love you, too."

With that, Klaus' hands ceased glowing, and Dave vanished.

Klaus sat on his bed for a few minutes, taking in all that had just happened.

Then he called out, "Okay, Ben. You have some explaining to do."

Ben appeared in ghost form.

"Okay, so, after I told everyone back here that night about the rave, I found myself out in front of the VFW. But I couldn’t find you."

Klaus sighed. "I was probably around the corner in the alley, well…getting 'Sidetracked.'"

"Yeah, I didn’t realize that, but when I saw where I was, I went inside the VFW and found the picture of your platoon. That was my first time seeing what Dave looked like. I wasn’t there the day you and Diego had that situation. Because you were recovering from the time-travel, you couldn’t conjure me."

Klaus sighed. "And I made things worse by getting drunk, and taking my last hit of drugs in Diego's car. I’m surprised I could even drive that ice cream truck. After I’d told Diego just three hours before that I couldn’t drive."

"So, I was in the afterlife trying to locate Dave. God wouldn’t tell me where he was. She said I needed to get back to you. By then, you were having that nightmare. I didn’t even know about the shootout with the lunatics. But I realized that I needed to stick around here. So we all could be united. I couldn’t risk leaving and not being around if something happened. So, that’s why I didn’t say anything then. I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case I could never find him."

Klaus sighed. "That makes sense. I understand."

Ben smiled. "But today, I finally found him."

Klaus smiled back. "Thank you."

"Now you need to go to Diego."

"Why?" Klaus asked, confused.

"Just go to him."

So, Klaus curiously exited his room and walked to Diego's doorway. Diego looked up from where he was lying on his bed tossing his knife up in the air.

"Ben said to see you."

Diego jumped up, inserting the knife back in his harness. "Yep. We’re going downstairs."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klaus followed Diego to the living room, where the other siblings were seated.

Luther rose from his place and gave Klaus a wrapped gift. "Happy thirty days of sobriety."

"What?" Klaus was pleasantly shocked as he stared at the flat package. He opened it to a framed photo --- the same as in the bar. Klaus looked up at him. "How…?" He squeaked."

Luther smiled. "I went to the local veteran's resource center this afternoon, after everything was over. From your tattoo, I was able to identify the brigade and convinced them to let me purchase a copy of the photo."

Klaus carefully placed the photo on the bar, and then ran to Luther and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

Luther choked back tears. "I truly am sorry for everything I did. How I treated you."

"It’s okay. I forgive you." Klaus pulled back and looked around the room at the others. "Thank you all for believing in me. I promise I’ll do my best not to cause you to doubt me again."

"Just keep doing what you’re doing," Five beamed at him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klaus placed the photo on his desk next to the bed. He pulled the covers over himself and promptly fell asleep. As he slumbered dreamlessly, Dave peered over him.

Klaus would be just fine. Dave knew it, as did Ben, Diego, and everyone else.

Most importantly, Klaus knew it, too


End file.
